JuliusWong

Just like Mydin.......The more you buy, the bigger the discount you will get. You also get more privilege and bargaining power with the manufacturer. Purchasing aircraft nowadays is just like shopping at mall.

Yes, indeed. Lion Air's current order is twice the number of Tan Sri TF's. No wonder TF is now back in concentrating on growing AirAsia Malaysia, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia aggressively and turn around AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia Japan. The latter two are still not profitable.

Lion Air now has 83 B737 in it's fleet, 330 B737 and 234 A320 on order for a total of 647 aircraft!! The aviation world gone mad!!

We take console that Malaysia firms are producing parts for Airbus family of aircraft. Indonesia is reviving its IPTN 250 turboprop aircraft.

Dear all, I was mingling with the MASwings staff at the MATTA Travel Fair 2013, when one of the operation staff said they are scheduled to unveil a new livery in October 2013 to mark its 5th year of operation. The new livery will incorporate 'elements of BIMP-EAGA', with more 'green' with all four BIMP-EAGA countries flags painted on the rudder and back of the plane. Also included is new cabin crew uniform. The new re-branding is to coincide with the introduction of its new ATR 72-600. They are scheduled to take 16 new ATR 72-600. Captain Nawawi has stated last year they may lease more ATR 72-500 from external sources to bridge the expansion between now and the delivery of the -600 series. In addition, MASwings is planning to include B737 fleet to fly to Hong Kong, Taiwan and other main business and manufacturing hubs in South East Asia and East Asia, first would be Hong Kong. B737 fleet plan is currently on 'active' discussion between MASwings and MH Board of Management. On a side note, Puerto Princesa flight is now on hold due to Sultanate of Sulu's invasion on Sabah. The staff wanted to show me the new livery, unfortunately she misplaced her file with new livery. Hope the new livery and uniform will be good. They are now on major hiring drive and will recruit more than 100 pilots to support the new fleet. New cabin crew recruitment will commence again soon. I bought an ATR 72-500 1:100 official model with current livery as she said it will soon run out and they are not planning to re-stock anymore. Of the 23 she brought to sell, I bought the second last one. I would like to buy the two notebooks as well, but unfortunately they ran out of stock. Any idea where I can get them? Any help is most appreciated!

I think a new colour scheme had been applied on 9M-AQT. Saw it when I was landing yesterday. Didn't manage to grab a photo.

Am tempted to take first flight out to KCH and back in KL before last flight out of KCH........RM156!!

Latest sighting: Two ex-MH B744 are now at MH Engineering Hanger at KLIA with one with her title painted over. Another B744 9M-MPM was berthed at MTB, looking very dirty and sad. B777-2H6ER 9M-MRK was pulled into another MH hanger, presumably for maintenance. Also sighted: Myanmar Airlines International (MAI) A320-232 with engines removed at AirAsia maintenance hangar. Two old B733 can still be seen. An AirAsia A320 new logojet was pulled out of hangar as well.

His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei has multiple licenses in flying commercial aircraft. He flies his own B747-400 V8-ALI, A340-213 V8-BKH, B767-26GER V8-MHB [although this aircraft is used by his brother most of the time] and his own Sikorsky helicopters. He flies BI A319 once before as well. All flights are pilot seats. He used to fly G-V as well, but I think he has sold his fleet of five G-Vs.

Off topic a bit, this is what we would have gotten if AirAsia X did take delivery of their A330-202. http://www.airliners.net/photo/Airbus-A330-202/2236418/M/ I am surprised that all seats had been installed but never make it to Malaysia's shore. Actually Airbus construction number is very ambiguous and highly debatable 9M-MNE is actually NOT the 100th A380 to be BUILT, but DELIVERED. If we follow the cn accordingly, the honour (to be built) goes to Thai Airways HS-TUC as Airbus skipped five cn. Construction numbers allocated earlier Malaysia Airlines first three frames (018, 024, 032) were not built. FedEx cn 038 and 053 were not built as well. Some people may debate on this, but hey who cares! Malaysia Airlines scored two #100!! MH was the recipient of #100 A330 (9M-MKF) back in 1998 as well! Sadly she is on her way to scrapper now.

US is going back to pre-1930s and 1940s era when there were only big 'four' airlines: American, United, TWA, and Eastern. The latter two are now obsoleted. Pan Am was in a different league on its own.

Star Alliance will lose US Airways. oneworld will gain a stronger American Airlines.

BREAKING NEWS: Batavia Airlines of Indonesia has declared bankrupt by Indonesia Commercial High Court. The airline has been in debt due to purchase of two A330-300s from ILFC few years back. AirAsia considered to purchase the ailing airline last year, however aborted the plan due to high financial risk status of Batavia Air. More info: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/Indonesian-court-declares-Batavia-Air-bankrupt-4237930.php

Two mistakes I noted, Naz stated oneworld is the largest alliance in the world. Correction: It is Star Alliance. Secondly, MH is still confused on which logo to use. The all blue 'malaysiaairines' is used on the repainted A330 and B738 during the ceremony just now, but all marketing materials still have the red-blue wau. Anyhow congratulation on the achievement, MH!! The wait is finally over!

Malaysia Airlines A330-322 9M-MKF Manufacturer series: cn 100. First delivered: 05/05/1995 Configuration C 44, Y 250 Ferried 27-28/01/2013 Subang Airport to Osaka Kansai International Airport, Japan. Onwards to Portland Int'l Airport, USA. Currently stored at Tupelo Regional Airport for part-out and scrap.

Malaysia Airlines MSN 40142 Boeing 737-8H6(WL) - First flight: 14-01-2013 Delivered 23-01-2013 Reg: 9M-MXO

The inflight magazine route map is the worst I had ever seen. Literally illegible. Really syiok sendiri!!!

Not really, Jet Airways was in financial difficulty at that time and was looking for opportunity to divest their B77W. Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines took up the offer. Jet Airways went on to cancel one of the B77W on order [the completed frame went to Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight], and converted another two B77W order to B737NG order. The boat has sailed for MH to order B77W. The nearest slot that Boeing can offer MH would be August 2015 and it cost a USD305.6 million a pop. MH can hardly afford it. Maybe they can consider some early EK-machines when EK offloaded some of theirs. Even better, just order A350 since their EIS is in 2015. The current B772ERs are killed by the new generation of A330-300. Some are heading for scrapping already.

Changi Airport will have Holiday Inn Express in 2015 complementing the Crowne Plaza at T3. Both are located right next to each other.

The only airline which is actively leasing out their B77W is Jet Airways. Yes, they always lease out with at least one cabin crew of theirs and both cockpit crew of theirs.

Just for reference, Airbus hiked their price recently by 3.6%. An A380 now cost a whooping USD403.9 million per piece, excluding engines. Source: http://www.airbus.com/presscentre/pressreleases/press-release-detail/detail/new-airbus-aircraft-list-prices-for-2013/

It is more of Singapore market is too crowded with too many players vying for both leisure, O&D and business travellers markets. In other word, the market has hit maturing plateau.

Changi Airport will be able to cope in near future, only of they can bring Terminal 4 forward instead of 2017. However, TF updated his FB status the other day that there will maybe one more joint-venture for the year. Perhaps he was talking about AirAsia India. Below was his status: "Done analysis of all business for next 5 years. We may do one more JV. Then that's it for next 5 to 10 years. No Korea No Cambodia No Vietnam etc. We have got a fantastic spread of countries and we will now build all those to size of Malaysia. No Singapore. We serve it well already from our airlines. No Laos No Brunei. ASEAN is done. We are very strong there. So no more JV." If we read between the fine line, TF may be planning to go all-out to fight against Malindo on domestic front. Only time will tell what is in for AK Group in 2013.

Yes, Sri Lanka students form the 2nd largest student population after Indonesia for both Monash University Sunway campus and Swinburne University Sawarak.

Yes definitely, A380 has been popular with airlines which are flying them now. However for MH's case, I don't think any other MH's route can sustain daily A380. Both route can be easily covered by Qantas if they do return. There should be a joint venture between QF and MH. Daily A380 for MH Sydney and Melbourne will overkill the routes. The six A380 are just nice for MH. Last thing we would want for MH is to be bloated with excess capacity.